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Ludwig van Beethoven, Brief an Carl Magnus Winter, Wien, 6. März 1820, Autograph

Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Sammlung H. C. Bodmer, HCB BBr 137

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Summary
Beethoven writes to Carl Magnus Winter, one of the appellate judges in Beethoven's guardianship case, and informs him that he will soon receive his memorandum (HCB Br 1) which lays out the detailed facts of the case from Beethoven's point of view. Beethoven asks him to check this in goodwill as he is demanding sole guardianship of his nephew. In this letter to Winter he also lists all of the arguments why he would be in a better position to care for the child rather than the actual mother.
Beethoven fought for guardianship of his nephew Karl, the son of his brother who had died in November 1815, for several years. Beethoven thought that the child's mother, Johanna van Beethoven, who also wanted to be guardian, would not be able to bring up her child because of her bad character. In order to exclude her as a guardian and to also try to forbid her from having any contact with her son, Beethoven sent numerous petitions to the relevant authorities, in which he always drew particular attention to Johanna van Beethoven's badness and reprehensible nature. After having gone back and forth many times Beethoven's efforts were finally rewarded in April 1820 when he was appointed Karl's guardian.

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